Has anyone stripped and redone an airgun stock

[mackeral5]

This grip is off a CP-1 or Bandit. I used Minwax Black Walnut trying to get he grain to pop. Wound up looking like I dropped it in a campfire.

I sort of like that look.  But that is somewhat the way the Minwax grey turned out on my P15 and it didn't necessarily "do it" for me  at the time.

[Blowpipe Sam]

I have refinished a number of gunstocks.  I have done faux finishes on a couple with an airbrush to simulate tiger maple or fiddlehead. My finish is a mixture of 1 part beeswax, 1 part turpentine, and 2 parts boiled Linseed oil.  Add a little Japan Dryer if you want it to dry faster but this inhibits absorption.  Three coats over two to three weeks is normally enough.  Rub it out between coats with fine steel wool.  Gun wood varies in quality, even more so on cheap airguns, so results will vary wildly.  I find that Urethane covers many ills so if your wood ain't worth the whole treatment just airbrush up some wood grain and slap on a coat of varnish!

[bear air]

That's funny Frank, I had a can of that in my hand last night at Walmart. I was just looking to see whats available. How many coats of stain did you apply? They also had some rustoleum blackcherry  I thought would look pretty good. I would rather save myself the frustration and disappointment though and use a product that has been used on one of these cheap wood stocks with success though. I already have a bottle of tru-oil that I got yesterday at Scheels. Now I need to get the stuff to strip it, some sand paper and steel wool and the stain and the other misc items to do the job. I plan to tackle this project sometime next week. Sounds like they also have some pre-stain treatment too. Maybe I should check into getting some of that as well.

[Lt. Dan]

I've used a torch to "burn" the desired effect on hammer handles then sanded and put coats of poly on them. They turned out well. I wonder if anyone has tried that on a rifle stock?

[Pelletjunkie]

I usually, on junk wood, test a stain on the stock under the butt plate. I just do one coat of stain. No pretreatment. All woods take stain differently. It’s a roll of the dice. As long as an ugly gun is accurate, I can live with that.

[Pelletjunkie]

I've used a torch to "burn" the desired effect on hammer handles then sanded and put coats of poly on them. They turned out well. I wonder if anyone has tried that on a rifle stock?

Torching only works good on soft wood like pine. I tried it on a Marlin stock and it didn’t even phase it. It turned color right at the point of catching the gun on fire.

[Ribbonstone]

Did figure out how to get some of the cheap-China woods to take a stain.  Not a finish, just a color pretty deep into the bare wood; you'd have to put a top finish onto that.

When all else failed,went with a leather dye.   The water based can work,just take longer (Climate...but figure on a day or two)  to penetrate and dry....alchohol based works faster.

No magic with the CP1....turned bare plain blond wood into plain brown wood (made in a multitude of colors)...but it was still bare wood, so normal clear stock finishes worked.

[Lt. Dan]

I've used a torch to "burn" the desired effect on hammer handles then sanded and put coats of poly on them. They turned out well. I wonder if anyone has tried that on a rifle stock?

Torching only works good on soft wood like pine. I tried it on a Marlin stock and it didn’t even phase it. It turned color right at the point of catching the gun on fire.

I use it on hickory handles. And yes it will be flaming and smoking,  but only flaming while the torch is on the wood.

[randy_68]

I've done a few stocks and have been using Minwax Antique oil finish. It takes a while but turns out great. Especially on walnut. For beech stocks I think a dye works better as stains dont take evenly.

[Motorhead]

For those WOOD stocks that simply don't have pretty wood grain, simply changing the shade be it lighter or darker does not really cut it ..... Paint it !!
Here a Gen II marauder just recently done in Rustoleum Textured paint with a clear lacquer over coat.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

I can't say I've seen a Mrod G2 stock that was refinished such that it looked good and highlighted the grain well.   There seemed to be more people that did it with their Gen 1 stocks, but still not that purty, IMO.  None looked as good as the stocks shown by Bob and others, here.  I hope yours come out great, and will inspire me to do my one Mrod woody. 

[bear air]

Thanks John, I'm still researching which products to use to strip and dye the wood. I'm leaning towards using dye instead of stain. I definitely want a good clean stock to start the project out with. I will be using tru-oil to finish it. Scott thanks for the suggestion. I'm a stubborn sun of a gun and have to give it a shot. If I find it's just not going to work I might have to consider using synthetic stocks and go the paint route. I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who chimed in on the thread so far.

[Pelletjunkie]

I don’t strip any of my stocks down with chemicals. Just old fashioned sanding. Here is a Benjamin Discovery stock I did years ago. Not sure if they source all the same wood for all their stocks but it came out nice with just stain and Tru-oil.

[denovich]

Still need a few posts until I can post pictures... but an interesting finish, if you want gloss, is using super glue. I made a guitar a few months ago, and used thin CA.Apply, sand, apply, sand until you build up the finish.  Search for videos on Youtube for the process. It is tricky until you get the hang of it. But the results are hard to beat. It is rock hard, can be polished to a super high gloss, and unlike almost any other finish, it's fully cured in a day. It's also super easy to repair.

Another new finish option is UV cured epoxy. Zero VOC, extremely long working time, extremely short cure time. Main manufacturer is Solarez... it's becoming a new favorite among guitar builders.

I've also done an oil finish on my Daystate... not a finish for the impatient.

[lizzie]

I haven't used this on a gun stock, but a good wood finish I've used in the past, on hand-built furniture made from antique wood, was a Danish oil finish. It gets wiped on, let sit, then wipe off the excess. I've used a couple of coats, and up to 4 coats, and even with heavy use, the finish holds up very well.

Danish Oil Application Instructions

    Apply a very thin coat across entire piece with a lint-free cloth at room temperature. ...
    Allow Danish Oil to penetrate the wood for a minimum of 5 minutes.
    Rub in briskly with a lint-free cloth until the surface is completely dry. ...
    Allow the piece to cure for a minimum of 8 hours.

[rsterne]

It was Watco oil I used on the stocks I did.... However, I wet sanded each coat after allowing it to penetrate, using gradually finer paper....

Bob

[lizzie]

It's great stuff, Bob!

[denovich]

Also, for general finishes... I recommend anything from Target Coatings. Their water based shellac is amazing. Doing finishes in a home shop is a real challenge. You want good results, and you don't want to poison yourself, your family or the environment in the process. I also now refuse to use a finish that can't be easily repaired. Polyurethane is the worst... stays tacky for too long (dust in finish is almost inevitable) is a pain to clean up, and if you sand/scratch through a layer you get to start over. I like finishes that can "burn-in" to the previous layers, which allow repair.  Shellac and Lacquer are great options for this reason. Target's water-based ones mean cleanup is easy too.

poop, I can't post external links either. You'll have to take my word for it until I make a few more posts.

I grew up using Danish oil... It had been my favorite (very forgiving) but it's not something I'd use again after discovering these other options.

[Van]

  Here is an old Crosman stock and a newer one that I refinished.  The old one is a 160 stock I adapted to a Disco carbine.  I read they were Elm or Ash cut to show the grain figure.  The 392 was thinned and reshaped.  I have no idea what wood they use, but it does not stain well with water based stains.  Both were sanded starting with 180 down to 320 grit, wet to raise the grain between changing grits, then washed with acetone.  I used Laurel Mountain stains from muzzle loader supply web sites. The 160 stock is their American Walnut and the 392 is their Lancaster Maple.  These are alcohol based stains and worked well.  True Oil rubbed down with 0000 steel wool between coats to finish up.  They both need a few more coats.

[RDB]

When you have cruddy wood you have to be creative.  Have one that turned out like Frank's. The wood on the nova liberty is very plain when stripped down. I like to wet the wood,let it dry and the grain will raise. Helps the stain take better. Then apply the stain, lightly sand rinse and repeat until you get the definition your looking for. This is with straight minwax ebony and a couple coats of poly in an afternoon.  Tru oil would be a much better finish.